A rocking new year for Monster Jam was heightened by the performance of eight top trucks at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. While some of the Monster Jam truck names were familiar to the longtime Columbus fans, each of the drivers were making their first start in the Ohio capital.The program got underway with wheelie competition with each driver getting two shots at impressing the judges. The first four drivers were within a few points of each other until 2013 Arena Wheelie of the Year Award winner Brandon Derrow stuck Bad News Travels Fast skyward for a 21. Dustin Brown’s effort in Iron Man ended up a point short, but Charlie Pauken roared out to set a pair of crowd pleasers that earned a 23 and victory.Unfortunately, a hard landing at the end of the wheelie competition forced Pauken to take the truck directly to the pit area. As the call came for the first round of racing, the Grave Digger crew was still addressing fuel issues and the pairing was lowered to afford more time. West Virginia Mountaineer captured the first race by edging Mega Bite. Bad News took care of Spike and Iron Man got the best of Samson in round one racing. Chrissy Moler brought XXX to the line and awaited Grave Digger, but the truck never made it before time expired. XXX used the bye run to move to the semi-finals.With four trucks graduating to the next round, the competition stiffened. Bad News sent Mountaineer packing and Iron Man topped XXX in a bad round for the Moler team. The light turned green on the final race and each driver shot ahead with Iron Man claiming a slight advantage at the finish. In his second year of competition, Dustin Brown claimed his first racing championship on his first night out in a new truck, much to the delight of the Iron Man faithful.The fans were clamoring for more action and they were treated to spectacular riding by a trio of freestyle motocross experts. Ben Mabee, Mad Mike Jones and Mike Angerman piled on trick after trick to continued cheering.The time came for the Fox Sports Freestyle action and it gave some drivers a last chance to make a mark. Spike rolled to the floor and put up a solid run that ended four seconds early when the truck rolled on a quick turn. The score of 18 was holding up until Mountaineer pushed the mark up to 20. Bad News witnessed an early ending to the run as the truck tumbled just 20 seconds into the run. Iron Man gained the lead with a solid 22, but the question remained on whether it would stand. With the work completed, Grave Digger rolled out and launched into some high flying action that pleased the fans and the judges, who gave the win with a 25. It marked the 14th straight year that a Grave Digger has won a freestyle event in Columbus.Team Ohio took two of the three Quad Wars events over Team Michigan in the traditional rivalry. Two shows remain in Columbus as Monster Jam fans join in on the Road to the World Finals.

It didn’t take long for the first clean sweep of 2014 to surface as the action continued in the Monster Jam first weekend of the year. Charlie Pauken and Grave Digger took home all three trophies in the afternoon performance that saw the crowd waving the skull and crossbones throughout the arena.The action started with the wheelie competition, a challenge won by Grave Digger in the Friday night show. Today, the drivers had only one chance to strut their stuff and had to pick a lane to get it done. Once again, the scores were quite tight as the competition took its shots. A very solid run by Iron Man looked too tough to beat, but Grave Digger got the job done to start the night.All eight trucks were able to answer the call for racing and Grave Digger topped XX to start the action. Mega Bite avenged the Friday night loss by toppling West Virginia Mountaineer. In his first start in a Monster Jam truck, Cory Rummell took Spike to a win over Bad News Travels Fast. Iron Man rounded out the first layer of competition with a win over Samson.Grave Digger took the semi-final win, shooting past Mega Bite, but Mega Bite’s teammate, Spike, represented well by claiming victory over Iron Man. In a close final round, Grave Digger prevailed over the newcomer.The Monster Jam Fox Sports Freestyle gave the fans plenty to get excited about, but they really enjoy the 600 seconds of Grave digger action. Bad News Travels Fast put up a solid run to bounce back from Friday misfortune to hold the lead until the Grave Digger assault on the scoreboard. The solid score of 26 was enough to complete the clean sweep for Grave Digger.Columbus fans were treated to lawn mower racing, a hotly contested Taco Bell Quad Wars competition and a group of four top freestyle motorcycle experts. The final Monster Jam contest of 2014 lurks a few hours away.

The finale of the three-show weekend at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, drew a loud crowd including many first time Monster Jam fans. Those who have been here in the past were quick to point out that the top notch competition was among the best seen in all of the performances witnessed on this regular stop of the tour.The wheelie action opened up the show and it didn’t take long to indicate how intense the competitors were going to be. Some high scores started off the one-hit competition, but the stakes were really raised when Jeff Anderson shot Spike into full vertical with the truck toppling onto its top. It earned a 25 from the judges with four trucks still waiting to make an attempt. Only one of the remaining trucks was able to top that score as Iron Man went for the vertical and added a great save to the mix to earn a competition-winning 26.The trucks were ready for racing action as Iron Man met up with Samson. Iron Man got the win on the hole shot, but trouble was obvious for Allison Patrick and Samson. As the truck limped back to the pits, damage to the axle or locker put further competition in jeopardy. Grave Digger stopped XXX, Bad News Travels Fast eliminated Spike, which was competing without a single body part hanging from the truck. Round one concluded with a Mega Bite victory over West Virginia Mountaineer. Iron Man (over Bad News) and Grave Digger (over Mega Bite) advanced to a position in the championship on the Road to the World Finals 2014. It set up a challenge between two drivers who had each recorded a racing win on the weekend. Grave Digger broke the tie with a close win over Iron Man.Monster Jam Fox Sports freestyle would bring back seven trucks. Samson’s problems prevented popular driver Allison Patrick from completing her home show as several fans displayed signs of support for “Team Allie”. As the trucks went into the fray, scores were quite close. When it was all said and done, the 21 of Bad News was eclipsed by Iron Man’s 24 that included a number of great saves. That score was attacked by Grave Digger, looking for the double down. It was “mission accomplished” as Grave Digger topped the charts with a 27.The fans were treated to high flying freestyle motocross thanks to Ben Mabee, Mike Jones, Mike Angerman and Zach DiPaolo. Taco Bell Quad Wars saw Team Ohio complete the sweep over Team Michigan.